Fireflies in the Red Roses
by YamiKitsuneKami
Summary: Kuwabara's elder cousin shows up on the apartment doorstep and comes in the Spirit detectives' lives. Interesting is all the two demons in the group can really say about her KuramaOC
1. Arrival

This is my **first **attempt at a Yu Yu Hakusho fanfiction so be nice and don't kill me for lack of knowledge on the anime or manga please (I am after a delicate writer lol.)

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I _**Do Not Own**_ Yu Yu Hakusho

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'_My head is freaking pounding. No aspirin around. I think my motion sickness medicine is wearing off. ARE WE THERE YET!' _Fingers laced through the brunette's hair as she hunched over her knees, trying to suppress the feeling of nausea that threatened to take over her poor body. After more than three hours on the bullet train, the seventeen year old really wanted to get off of the damnable metal contraption. 

Of course getting off the train would be greeted with more torture, or so she thought, as it would be another pleasant visit with her older female cousin and younger, stupid, arrogant, ignorant, doofus, male cousin. She sighed as she shifted into a slumped sitting position so she could look out the window. The graying sky, was covered in even darker clouds that illuminated the evening sky with lightening.

Exhausted the seventeen year old pressed her warm forehead against the cooler glass watching as raindrops fell onto the window. Slowly she nodded off into sleep listening to the pitter patter of rain, the soft chatter of the other train occupants and the ever ignored in-train movie.

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"Miss…." Someone tapped the brunette's shoulder, "Miss, this is your stop…. Please wake up." 

Tiredly, the seventeen year old opened her eyes, bringing her watch into view. 10:41 glared back at her. The train whistle blared at her, bringing her out of her daze.

"Miss, the train is about to leave, you need to hurry."

With wide eyes, the female sprang to her feet almost falling over the seat as she collected her duffle bag from the overhead compartment. "Thank you," she said with an almost yawn to the train conductor as she brushed past the last minute passengers climbing onto the train. As soon as she climbed off into the wet weather, the train door slammed shut behind her and the whistle screamed, telling everyone nearby that it was leaving the station.

'That was close. Good thing that guy woke me up, or I'd be on my way out of here.' Walking across the nearly deserted train station, the brunette reached into her duffle bag searching with her hand for her cell phone.

Pulling out the sleek black phone, she flipped it open and started to dial her cousin's number. As she pressed the call button and brought the cell to her ear, she heard the disconnected tone. Pulling the black miniature of a phone away in disgust and throwing it into a nearby trash can.

'_So you already had my phone turned off did ya? Well, you're not getting your hands on my inheritance, heirlooms, or money because I already withdrew them from the bank, you bastard.' _

Walking into the station, she walked over to the payphone that was hidden in the shadowy corner. Picking up the phone, she could hear the same disconnected tone that had rang from her cell phone. Clenching her hand into a fist, she carefully replaced the phone onto the receiver. It was already nine minutes after eleven and was only getting later.

'_I knew I should have called Shizuru before I got on the train or at one of the other stops… now its past eleven, no doubt she would be asleep by now, after all she does work weekdays every week starting at seven.' _The brunette heaved a sigh lowering her head, _'Sometimes I question why they bumped me up a year in school…after all I do lack a lot of common sense in times like these.' _Again her hand flowed through her hair, an unfortunate nervous habit that she had picked up as she grew older. Shrugging her black bag onto her shoulder, the seventeen year old ventured out of the train station and into the pounding evening rain on her way to her older cousin's house.

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Morning seemed to have come too fast for Shizuru as the annoying beeping of her alarm clock awoke her from her ever needed sleep. _'Five more minutes… just five more minutes of sleep is all I ask of you, you stupid piece of plastic electronics.' _Glancing through sleep ridden eyes, Shizuru found that her five minutes had long ago passed, and that if she failed to awaken and leave right away, she would be late for work. 

Stepping onto the cool hardwood floor, she started to search for her cleanest pair of pants, all of which were strewn across the floor. Coming to her brown pair she picked them up and held them an arm's length away from her so she could examine them.

"Good enough," she smiled slipping them on. Three minutes before she had to defiantly leave for work. Hurriedly she searched her dresser drawers for a shirt to wear while mentally trying to recall where in the hell she had taken off her shoes. Slipping on the sea green button up shirt, she proceeded to the living room to find her shoes.

On the way to her destination, she passed her younger brother's room. Kuwabara was off with Yusuke and the others, on a mission for Koenma and wasn't due back until the very end of summer vacation, in two days.

"Sure as hell glad that I don't have to deal with demon problems all of the time. I already have fussy old women screeching at me for cutting their hair the exact way they wanted it in the first place." Shizuru sighed as she poured her steamy coffee into her portable cup and snapped the lid on.

Slipping her shoes on, she opened the door preparing to enter the overly bright world for the first time today, but stopped short finding a familiar form slump onto the floor from their position leaning against the door.

Hitting her head on the ground, the brunette woke from her sleeping position that had once been her leaning against her cousin's apartment door. "Ouch… maybe leaning against the door wasn't such a good idea." She rubbed her throbbing head with a slight smile on her face.

"H-hotaru? What are you doing here?"

"Oh. Good morning Shizuru. Sorry I didn't inform you at an earlier time but um… do you think that I could stay with you for a little while?"

Shizuru raised an eyebrow as she helped her younger cousin to her feet, "Why?" her eyes narrowed, "What did that selfish bastard say this time?"

"Uh.. It was something along the lines of 'Get out of my house you fucking selfish bitch…. If you want anything that you currently own grab it on the way out because by the time its two o'clock you're no longer going to be my daughter' or something like that, I think."

"So he finally disowned ya did he?" Shizuru sighed giving her younger cousin the once over, "I guess I can let you take on the family name kiddo." Her hand mussed the seventeen year old's hair playfully once before she walked out of the door.

"Where you going to cousin?"

"I've got work right now Hotaru. But you know where that is, so just go inside and clean yourself up. You are such a mess right now, I don't think you wanna be seen walking around at the moment."

And true to her words, Hotaru was a complete mess. Her clothes were wrinkled and covered in drying dirt water, her hair was strewn with leaves and tossed about like crazy sex hair, and her face had several streaks of mud across the bridge of her nose where she had rubbed it in her sleep.

"Thank you Shizuru, I'll see you at work in a little while." Shizuru waved as she disappeared around the corner of the building, leaving the seventeen year old and her bag to the ever empty house.

Venturing indoors, Hotaru found that the place was quiet…. Very quiet. Walking through the hallway to the bathroom, Hotaru glanced into her younger cousin's bedroom to find that it was empty of the crazy orange haired freak. Finding her cousins gone, she happily moved to the bathroom to take a quick shower and change her clothes.

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Kuwabara stumbled into the apartment his sister and him shared exhausted from all of the demons he fought along the sides of Yusuke, Hiei and Kurama. The rest of them followed in after him, none of them not as tired as the tallest member of the spirit detectives. 

Opening the refrigerator, Kuwabara silently offered everyone a drink, Kurama silently declining, Yusuke nodding enthusiastically and Hiei plainly ignoring him.

Hiei stared down the hallway, at the bathroom door as if someone were about to come out when Eikichi sprinted out of Kuwabara's room, hearing the electric can opener working its magic on a can of cat food. "Hello Eikichi-kun, have you been a good kitty? Did you miss your daddy?" Kuwabara said gleefully cuddling with the cat.

Kurama bit his thumb in order to stifle a laugh that was trying to escape from his mouth, while Hiei and Yusuke had the similar thought of, '_Can he really be that much of an idiot for that cat?' _

"Kazuma, you're doing that thing again with the cat where everyone questions the height of your intelligence." Kuwabara jumped from his cat to stare out Hotaru, who had just come out of the shower and was towel drying her hair. Hiei and Kurama both sat silently feeling that there was not a threat to come from the unfamiliar female, while Yusuke remained silent, using his extremely bad memory to try and pick out who's voice belonged to this body.

Eikichi jumped from the counter to press against the female's bare calf, purring contently. Hotaru sat down on the couch next to Yusuke, as she freed her hair from the towel and let the damp locks fall into place. Hotaru and Kuwabara stared at each other from across the room.

"Aren't you even going to say good morning to your older cousin?"

"Hotaru? When did you get here and why are you here?"

Before the seventeen year old could answer Yusuke had her in a headlock and was giving the brunette a nogey. "Hey Hotaru, haven't seen you in forever, what have you been doing?"

"Nothing at all. I've been a very good girl. Let go my neck already hurts from sleeping in the apartment's doorway last night." Hotaru complained, trying to free herself from the younger boy's grip.

"Why were you sleeping in the doorway last night then idiot?" Yusuke yelled releasing Hotaru from the headlock.

"I got in late last night on the train and my cell phone was dead, not my fault!" Eikichi jumped onto Hotaru's lap and rubbed against her arm, asking her to scratch behind her ears. Hotaru looked up and blinked noticing that Kuwabara and Yusuke were not the only ones in the apartment. "Oh… Hello," she said with a slight smile, "My name is Hotaru Kuwabara, Kazuma's older cousin." Hotaru stood up and offered her hand to Kurama who took it into his grip.

"My name is Shuiichi Minamino, a friend of Kuwabara's, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Same." Hotaru offered her hand to Hiei, sat with his arms crossed over his chest staring at Hotaru venomously.

"And that's Hiei… he's not really the talkative type as you can tell."

"Hn."

"I see… well nonetheless, nice to meet ya Hiei."

"You never answered my questions Hotaru."

"Oh yeah, I guess you want your answers don't cha Kazuma? Well, let's see. I got here last night about eleven forty-seven, and I'm here because I can be wherever I want to be so there." In a childish habit, Hotaru stuck her tongue out at Kuwabara, who fumed angrily behind the kitchen counter.

"Well, how long are you supposed to be staying?"

"Dunno," she said shrugging her shoulders, "I guess until I can afford a place of my own."

"Well, that should be right now then since he's the vice president of that one company or something."

"Oh yeah. That's right, I didn't tell you the good news."

"It better not be that you're pregnant, cuz if it is, forget the honor code I'll beat you myself."

"Psh… me? With kids? Ha, that's an absurd thought. No, its even better. I've been disowned."

"How in the hell is that a good thing!"

"Well, I suppose its not so good that I no longer have a source of money and such, but I also don't have to deal with my father and I don't have to live so far away from you and Shizuru. That's always a good thing." Hotaru took a seat next to Yusuke again. "And where were you this morning?"

"With my friends of course."

"You have friends?" she replied sarcastically.

"Yes, I have friends, they're sitting in the living room with you or are you blind as well as disowned?"

"Oh, I thought they were the people you decided to torture with your abhorred presence."

"Abhorred?"

"Look it up in the dictionary, I don't have to tell you everything I know, get out and do some learning on your own."

"Well-" the argument continued in this fashion as Yusuke and Kurama watched on in mild interest.

Kurama leaned in towards Yusuke motioning for him to do the same, "Are they always like this?"

"Yeah, they always act like this around each other, but they can be fun too."

Kurama nodded, "So how do you know each other?"

"We met through Kuwabara when I entered the third grade, she came to pick him up. She was in fifth grade at the time. It was probably the funniest thing, because Kuwabara was screaming the entire time while she was trying to bring him home. You could bear him five blocks away." Yusuke snickered watching as the cousins stomped right up to each other yelling in each other's face.

Kuwabara pulled his arm back, his fist clenched as he prepared to strike the shorter female. As his fist went forward, Yusuke and Kurama stood to stop him from hitting Hotaru, but the brunette surprised them all by moving slightly out of the way and flipping the taller red haired male over onto his back. "Now, now Kazuma, don't want to break that silly code of yours do you?" She offered her hand to her cousin putting on a smile that seemed to throw Kuwabara' s anger.

"Thanks for that, Hotaru." he mumbled accepting her help.

"No Problem, after you seemed a little tense when I saw you. Stay up all night or something?"

"You could say that I suppose."

"Hmm. Well I told Shizuru that I was going to go see her at work, so you get some sleep and I'll talk to you later when you aren't so short on anger management," the brunette replied lightly punching his shoulder.

"Yeah, later sounds good cuz."

"Good," Hotaru turned to Kurama, Yusuke and Hiei, "and I'll see you guys around." With those final words, the seventeen year old slipped out of the house on her way to Shizuru's work place.

"Is that ningen always so…. Bipolar?"

"Bipolar isn't the word I would use to describe her, more along the lines of… comforting and understanding."

Yusuke laughed, "So you like that psycho girl, Kurama?"

"She's interesting, I suppose. More so than most humans."

"Heh, you like her like a crush don't you?"

"Whatever made you think that Yusuke?"

Yusuke smiled a cheesy smile before running out of the house yelling at the top of his lungs, "Shuiichi likes Hotaru!"

"Idiot," Hiei mumbled as he exited the apartment, disappearing from sight in a Hiei-like fashion.

Kurama sighed closing the door behind him and shook his head with a smile on, "What an interesting morning so far today." Placing his hands into his pants pockets, he walked casually away from the Kuwabara's apartment.

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**A/N:** Was it good? Bad? ShouldI just give up the idea of continuing this fic?Please review and tell me what you think of it. 

Also, if you would **like to beta** for this fic or any of the others please **Private Message me or email me**

**_Note_**: To the readers of Ten Years in Sand Country, I've hit a bit of a bump in the chapter that I hope to overcome soon so don't worry about it because I will be continuing quite soon


	2. To Genkai's

I'm rather late and I realize tht but hey this is a work in progress don't get mad

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**_I do not own the rights to Yu Yu Hakusho _**

**_so dont bother sueing me_**

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Hotaru walked absentmindedly down the street on her way back to her cousin's apartment, having just left the beauty salon her older cousin worked at. Shizuru was busy today with many customers and Hotaru felt that she just got in the way of the complicated operations that took place in the small building, so deciding that it was for the best, the seventeen year old left her cousin to her work. 

The day was still young, nearly one o'clock and it just seemed to drag on and on. Concentrating her vision on the sky above her, Hotaru let instinct take over as she spaced out, staring into the endless blue sky.

The Kuwabara family has always had a heightened sense of awareness to the world around them, but it always seemed that the eldest of the children's children had the stronger gift. Being the daughter of the second oldest daughter, her abilities were nearly nonexistent, only enough to help her avoid most dangers, but mostly only the extreme ones. But with her spiritual awareness she could feel Ki, but not well enough to tell how powerful. It went from 'ok normal' to 'I think I want to start walking the other way', so in other words the sensitivity of her awareness was not very precise. But her spiritual awareness had its ups beside being so weak compared to her cousin's. For example it gave her a strangely accurate sense of direction, which was handy in a lot of the situations she always seemed to get herself into. She sighed in aspiration remembering the time nearly two weeks ago when she got lost, hiking off path at Mount Fuji with her friends, who decided it would be funny to leave her in the middle of nowhere.

Shivering involuntary, Hotaru glanced around realizing that although she managed to avoid danger, she had gotten herself lost. _'Great. Thinking about getting lost gets me lost. I applaud my brilliance. Go me.' _Her left hand went through her hair as she turned around and started to head the way that she had came. Footsteps resounded behind her, making her pause and glance over her shoulder.

Nothing was there.

Shaking her head she continued down the street. Again she could her the footsteps of someone else behind her. Slowing her pace, her pursuer did the same. Turning around fully Hotaru observed no one on the street except herself. Shaking her head lightly she went back to walking, '_I must be paranoid. No one's around except for me.' _

Nodding to herself, Hotaru closed her eyes and started to deduce where the hell she had ended up at. "I can't be too lost, I mean I only walked on a straight course right? I don't remember taking any turns or something like that… but then again I don't remember walking so long that I would end up in a place that I didn't recognize. God, this just sucks!"

"You know talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity."

Hotaru yelled in surprise, stumbling over her own feet and falling to the ground. Laughing outrageously loud behind her stood Yusuke. He wore a ridiculous face from watching the older female jump about three feet into the air and then trip over her own feet on the landing.

Realizing who the obnoxious laughter belonged to, Hotaru jumped to a crouched position and swept her leg in a low arc, swiping Yusuke's feet from under him. "Who's laughing now you bastard? God Yusuke you are a sick sick man if I ever knew one."

"Well I'm not the one talking to herself in the middle of a sidewalk now am I?" Yusuke rubbed his backside of which he had fallen on muttering under his breath, 'damn that girl kicks just like the old hag.'

"Well don't mess with my mind like that, I don't like that at all."

"Someone has watched too many horror movies and unsolved crimes episodes. So what are you doing down here anyways, didn't think you'd be one to go lookin for trouble or a fight."

"I wasn't looking for any of those things, I just happened to become distracted by my own thoughts on my way back to Shizuru's apartment and ended up here, nothing more nothing less."

"Geez Hotaru, you sound just like Kurama. Maybe you two _should _get together."

"And I know someone named Kurama?"

Yusuke laughed nervously rubbing the back of his neck, "That's right you don't know that Kurama is Shuichi's nickname. That's what me, Kuwabara, and Hiei call him."

"Uh huh… thanks for the interesting update. Now where the hell are we and why the hell were you sneaking around after me like some kind of stalker?"

"I was NOT stalking you! I was simply following you to see where you were going."

"Yeah… I think that is what they call stalking Yusuke."

"I WASN'T BEING A STALKER!!"

"But you _are_ being too damn loud, Yusuke! My poor ears are hurting from your voice. And I was just joking with you. Don't get so agitated."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Yusuke took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and opened them trying to pull out one of the sticks of doom. Hotaru snatched them from his hand which loosely held them, "Hey what the hell Hotaru?! Give those back!"

"Smoking is no good for your health and besides you are underage you can't have these smokes." Hotaru slipped them into her back pocket.

"Yeah? Well what about you?! You're underage too!"

"Who says I'm going to smoke them? And besides, its only illegal if you get caught, like I when I just caught you."

"Smart ass," Yusuke muttered to himself giving Hotaru a glare.

"And proud of it Yusuke. So, where are we?"

"We're just in the slums, nothing important here," the shorter brunette said folding his arms behind his head, while inspecting the dirt on his shoes. "You want me to bring you to your cousin's? Since you are lost and all?"

"Yeah, that would make my life slightly easier than it is." She gave Yusuke a smile, closing her eyes. Together the teenagers set off down the street walking in a comfortable silence. Soon the seventeen year old started to recognize the surrounding building structures, but not completely sure if they were the same places that she was thinking of at that very moment. "Yusuke… are we near-"

"Yeah, we'll be passing by Shizuru's workplace in a moment or two," he replied almost in a bored tone of voice. He continued to steal small glances at Hotaru as they passed by the beauty solon._'I went the wrong way when I left Shizuru's workplace, no wonder I had no idea where I was,' _Hotaru lowered her head in self-embarrassment,_ 'and I'm supposed to be the smart one of the family.' Hotaru lowered her head in self-embarrassment, 'and I'm supposed to be the smart one of the family.'_

"So… Hotaru," Yusuke said casually, his voice hiding his sly intents, "What do you think of Shuichi? Do you like him?"

"Shuichi?" Hotaru paused a moment to think about the polite red haired male she had met that morning, "Well… I didn't really have much time to talk to him, but he seemed rather nice."

"Oh? And what do you think of his physical characteristics?"

Hotaru rose an eyebrow at Yusuke completely unaware of his intentions, "Well I suppose he is nice looking, my age I would think. His hair… is EXTREMELY red, and I think he has green eyes. I hate to say it but he looks a little feminine to me." Hotaru's eyes hardened into a cold glare, "Tell him that and I will beat you in to ground myself Yusuke."

Yusuke sighed inwardly in disappointment hearing the answer Hotaru gave him. Not exactly a love at first thing that he could use to tease Hotaru and Kurama with… not that he really knew whether or not Kurama liked Kuwabara's cousin quite like that, but it would have been even more fun if they did. "So why were you disowned Hotaru, you never told us the details this morning."

"Didn't I?" She shrugged, "Well, you know my father, really demanding and all that, always gets what he wants kind of person you know?" Yusuke nodded in understanding, so the taller brunette continued. "Oh… well, anyways he made this deal with the president of another company saying that if he supplied some materials at a cheaper price he would marry his daughter to him, the daughter being me. So yeah, I said no, so he freaked out on me and was all like, 'You are a stupid spoiled bitch, I do everything you ask of me and when I ask you to do something for me you refuse me, get out of my fucking house you selfish bitch, grab anything you currently own because by the time its two o'clock you'll no longer be my daughter or associated with me' and that's pretty much what he said."

"He said it in those exact words?"

"More or less, I think I left out more of his insults though, I do believe he called me a cunt several times. But I don't really care, he was a mean lying bastard anyways." Her hand flew through her loose locks brushing them back behind her ear. The teenagers now stood in front of the Kuwabara's apartment door both of them looked to each other in a questioning manner. "Do you think he is still asleep?"

Yusuke smirked opening the unlocked door, "Who cares, I got less sleep than him and I'm walking around all fine."

"But that is because you are a freak who lived after being ran over by a car, so therefore your walking about does not count." Walking past the punk with an outraged expression upon his face Hotaru gave Yusuke an innocent look paired with a set of raised eyebrows that seemed to tell him 'I dare you to try and say something different.'

Yusuke fumed as he followed the female into her residence, finding Kuwabara on the couch watching the television, a bowl of chips on his lap.

"Kuwabara!" Yusuke yelled into the red head's ear making him jump off the couch and spill his chips all over the floor.

"What ya do that for Urameshi?!"

"You didn't notice we were here! How else was I supposed to get your attention?!"

"Not screaming in my ear is a good idea!"

Shizuru at that moment walked through the door and stopped seeing that both her cousin and brother were there, "Good your both here, I have to tell that I am going to go to Okinawa for a week for training. So Kazuma I want you to stay here with Hotaru and help her find an apartment."

"What?! But Shizuru, I'm supposed to go to Genkai's-"

"Well then bring her with you, I'm sure that Genkai wouldn't mind having someone component around besides Kurama, Hiei and Yukina."

"But-"

"Kazuma. No. Buts. You are taking Hotaru with you and that is final."

"Shizuru, its alright I can stay here by myself."

Shizuru leaned towards Hotaru and started to whisper in her ear, "You should go and meet the people that my brother hangs out with… they are quite entertaining not to mention you'll be able to meet the girl Kazuma has sworn his eternal love to."

Hotaru blinked processing the information through her head, before running her hand through her hair mumbling, "Fine."

"Great, now get your things and go off to Genkai's. I'll see you next week." Shizuru said smiling pushing her younger relatives to their respective rooms. Hotaru sighed as she gathered her bag from her cousin's bedroom floor and walked out to see Kuwabara come out of his room stuffing a change of clothes into his bag.

"Sis, I need you to talk to the neighbor lady so she comes over to feed my dear little baby while I'm gone to Genkai's," he said dejectedly zipping up the bag.

"Its already been taken care of Kuwabara, just make sure you take care of your cousin while you're there."

Hotaru's eye twitched at the comment but she refused to say anything about being able to take care of herself even though she knew that it was true.

Yusuke stood by the door waiting for the two of them as patiently as he could, but that wasn't a very long time. "Hurry up Kuwabara, you and Hotaru are takin' forever!"

"Shut up Yusuke, if you're so bored go on your own! I'm sure Kuwabara knows the way."

"Fine. Maybe I will."

"Good."

Yusuke said nothing as he watched Hotaru stride into the living room and plop onto the couch while she waited for Kuwabara. "I thought you were going to leave."

"No, I thought that you would want company that was able to speak intelligently with rather than just Kuwabara."

"Are you talking about yourself, Yusuke? Because you don't qualify as intelligent." Hiei said appearing in the apartment doorway, walking in like he owned the place.

"Hey Hiei, I thought you would be headin' over to Kurama's place."

"Hn. The fox is coming here, so why waste an extra five minutes?"

'_Fox?_' Hotaru thought watching Hiei in mild interest… _'so they also call Shuichi fox? How strange.'_

Hiei looked at Hotaru with the briefest of glances then turned his gaze to his feet as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall.

"Shrimp? When did you get here?!" Kuwabara yelled in surprise walking into the living room with his bag slung over his shoulder.

"Baka Ningen, I've been here for three minutes."

"Are you trying to pick a fight with me, shorty?"

"Hn. You would be a waste of effort."

Kuwabara fumed in rage trying to throw off his bag which he became entangled in so he could fight with the shorter male who seemed he could actually care even less. Hotaru chuckled under her breath, rolling her eyes to the side, wondering if Kuwabara ever thought about anything besides his cat and fighting.

It didn't take long for the red haired male to show up with a backpack slung over his shoulder. He stood in the doorway observing the situation unfolding in front of him before he thought it better to intervene before someone, also known as Kuwabara got himself injured.

"I'm here, so let's get going." Everyone but Hiei and Hotaru jumped at the sound of Kurama's voice, Hiei having sensed the kitsune and Hotaru having seen him in the doorway.

"Hey Kurama what took ya so long? I thought you would have been one of the first ones here."

Kurama gave Yusuke an incredulous look, glancing slightly in the direction of Hotaru, who sat on the couch, watching their interaction in mild interest.

"Ah, don't worry about it Kurama, Hotaru here already knows that Kurama is just a nickname that we use for you isn't that right Hotaru?" Yusuke slung his arm over the seventeen year old's shoulders, as if they were really old pals.

Hotaru in return brushed the young spirit detective's arm off before standing up and slinging her bag over her shoulders. "Let's just get going already, I can feel Shizuru's need to kick us out coming." And as if on cue, Shizuru appeared with her bag and keys, ready to leave for her train to Okinawa.

"Ok, time to get out of the house cuz I'm locking up for the weekend." Shizuru quickly ushered everybody out of the house, locking up the door behind her. " Now, Kazuma, be good, don't fight with your cousin, be nice to her and make sure she doesn't get hurt or else you'll regret it when I hear about it." Despite the smile on her face, Kuwabara and Hotaru knew that her words would be true to the T. With a couple of good bye kisses, Shizuru was gone.

There was a short silence, before Kuwabara spoke up, "What just exactly happened?"

"I think that we were just kicked out and you were threatened with pain if I were to be displeased, Kazuma." The cousins looked at each other before shrugging. "So, where are we going exactly, all I know is that it involves Genkai, but after that I got a little lost."

"Well, Hotaru, we are going to go to my master's house and hang out and train."

"Someone accepted you as a disciple?" Hotaru shook her head not daring to continue on that train of thought, following after the already moving group of three ahead of her.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Yusuke chased after the group, slightly ticked at the brunette's implications.

* * *

Hotaru tied her black hoodie around her waist as the group of five continued up the hill, revealing the teal tank top underneath. Hotaru was getting slightly tired from all of the walking but put up with it having heard that they were more than halfway to this Genkai's home, which was in the middle of the mountains. The brunette smoothed her hair back as a slight breeze left it rather tousled. Grabbing her bag, she zipped open on of the side pockets, pulling out a hair tie, which she promptly used to tie her hair back with, ignoring the eyes that were upon her exposed back. 

"When'd you get the ink, Hotaru?"

_'Of course… that's what they were looking at.'_ "Oh, that? I got that like half a year ago for my sixteenth birthday, pretty cool huh? And for your information, I did not pick it out because I gave the privilege to my friends who were paying for it."

"Oh, I was wondering if there was any reason why you had a fox playing with fireflies on your back, but I guess you answered that already for me."

"People always ask me, so I just decide to answer the question before its asked, its more convenient that way," she laughed as she started to climb the stone stairs that were before them, taking the lead. Without looking she nearly tripped over the second step, but caught herself with her hand. She blinked twice as she came face to face with a golden brown furred fox, its leg twisted so badly that even she knew that it was broken. Without much thinking she reached forward and grabbed the fox before it could get away.

In return the fox sunk its teeth into her hand hard, drawing blood with its razor like canines.

She gave out a slight yelp but didn't relinquish her hold on the small furry animal. The fox eased off, staring at the female that now held him, before biting her hand again.

Hotaru bit her lip, turning around to face the others, "Does someone have something to wrap this fox's snout with? So, he doesn't decide to bite me again?"

Kurama stepped forward taking the fox from Hotaru's arms holding him carefully in his own, for the sake of the small animals leg.

The fox stared at Kurama, taking in his scent before bowing its head and licking his hand.

"Well, I guess that he likes you more than he likes me," Hotaru half sighed, a pained smile on her face as she observed her still bleeding hand. Gingerly, she unwrapped her hoodie from her waist and tucked her hand safely within its folds. "What are we waiting for? Let's get going already."

"You are acting like you weren't even hurt! Let me see your hand! Shizuru is going to kill me," Kuwabara started to panic as he reached for his cousin's injured hand, but Hotaru pulled away jogging up the stairs.

"Don't worry about it Kuwabara, its not the first time that I have had an animal bite me and besides I have a higher pain tolerance than you so of course I wasn't going to go all girly cuz of a simple wound." She half smiled running up the stairs to Genkai's, her hand throbbing in pain as more blood poured onto her sweater. she continued to run up the stairs, wanting to get to Yusuke's master's place faster so that she could take care of her wound before it became infected, Yusuke quickly catching up with Kuwabara trailing behind, trying to catch up. Hiei and Kurama looked at each other silently before following up after the humans.

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Hotaru reached the top of the stairs first, seeing the courtyard as well the traditional house with the long wooden covered porches. '_I feel like I just walked into a martial arts film.'_

It was quite interesting to say the least, although there seemed to be nobody around.

"Hey ya old Hag! Come out here! We're all waiting for ya!"

"Yusuke, your yelling is loud enough to wake the dead, who is this?" A short pink haired lady appeared before the teenagers, slightly surprising the female, seeing how she just appeared out of thin air before them.

"Hag, this is Hotaru, Hotaru this the old hag."

"Baka! Introduce us right or you'll regret it!" Hotaru yelled, hitting the young spirit detective over the head with her closed fist.

"Fine, Genkai, this is Hotaru Kuwabara, Hotaru this is Genkai."

Hotaru rolled her eyes, but gave Genkai a quick bow, knowing that she was a superior fighting master and deserved more respect than what Yusuke was ever going to give her in open public, "It is my pleasure to meet you Genkai-san. I hope that Yusuke's incompetence has not hindered you too much when training him."

"He does better, when I put him to actual work, Hotaru-san."

"Ok, then. Let's have Yukina look at your hand there Hotaru, its prolly still bleeding all over your sweatshirt."

"Yeah, it may help if I actually take care of it now." Genkai moved aside as Yusuke and Hotaru proceeded to the house talking in a somewhat loud fashion. That girl must have something over Yusuke to make him listen to her that well… more than likely blackmail of some sort._ 'My kinda girl,'_ she laughed in her head, as Kuwabara trudged past her out of breath.

Yukina, Hotaru soon discovered, was a rather petite but very pretty girl that couldn't be much older than perhaps Hiei, seeing as they were about the same height, but she was very beautiful, so Hotaru could see why Kuwabara was obsessive enough to proclaim his undying love to her. And not only was she attractive physically, she was also very polite, feminine and helpful, cleaning the wounds on the seventeen year old's hand, putting on antiseptic and bandaging it without even asking her name. Yusuke had left the girl's realizing that the rest of the group had already arrived at the temple.

"Thanks, Yukina-san." Hotaru murmured admiring the blue haired girl's handy work.

"You are welcome… I'm sorry I don't know your name yet." she blushed innocently averting her eyes, making the brunette smile.

"No, its quite fine seeing as I haven't introduced myself. My name is Hotaru Kuwabara, Kazuma's older cousin."

"It is very nice to meet you, Hotaru-san."

"Same to you Yukina-san." Together they got up to go and see what everyone was up to outside. Hotaru could already guess that this was going to be an interesting weekend.

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Reviews 

_**Wannabe Otaku-**_ thank for the review I was so happy to see that you liked the first chapter and that you reviewed. AS my first reviewer I shall praise your name to the world lol

_**Blackpanzer-**_ why thank you I'm glad you like it so much I certainly hope that you continue reading

_**-incessant embers-**_ for you I will try my hardest to keep the gang in character for I will start my uber researching as to learn them inside and out…. But if I do change the character for any reason… (it'll prolly be a good reason) it will be a gradual change but the character will keep its same zest so thanks for the review I certainly hope that you continue reading

_Doesntmatter-_ thanks for commenting, I hope that you do continue to read, even though I do now update very often

_Cheetos is your god-_ yeah, I hate mary-sues, I try not to mary-sue them out lol

_Ryuudo_- sorry I havent updated sooner, thank you for your review

_**BlackRoses666**_- thanks coming from you that is a compliement, I hope that you continue to like the story

_Abby_- thanks I hope that you continue to read and like it

Please review and I hope you enjoyed. Ja Ne 


	3. At Genkai's

_**Hey so this is the third chapter in my story, I hope you enjoy and leave me a comment!

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**_

I do Not Own Yu Yu Hakusho!

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At first, Hotaru and Yukina talked to each other quietly, while everyone else was busy; Genkai shouting out orders at Yusuke, Shuichi and Hiei were sparring, fighting, whatever you want to call it, and Kuwabara seemed to be lost within his own thoughts. Hotaru was very interested in the blue-haired girl, as she described what it was like living with Genkai, but then the petite female turned the listening to talking, asking the brunette about her life, family, favorite things to do and whatever else came to her eager mind.

Hotaru answered Yukina's questions, editing some of the information here and there, much of it having to do with her father. She had to admit that the smaller female was a very curious type, and perhaps a little lost on many of the subjects Hotaru had presented to her. For a while, it made Hotaru think that she had never really seen the real world, as if she didn't belong on earth or something, having never heard of many of the things Hotaru mentioned to her, like Volleyball and manga. It was a little bit suspicious, but Hotaru let it slide seeing the light of enlightenment spark in the bluenette's eyes.

She was quite interesting, but she soon left, telling her that she had to start on dinner since there was so many people staying the weekend at Genkai's. Hotaru had offered to help her but Yukina had declined, insisting that a guest shouldn't have to do anything. So now, Hotaru sat alone on the long wooden porch watching as Kuwabara and Yusuke were fighting, Kuwabara obviously losing against the much more agile Yusuke. She sighed in boredom, shifting her gaze to her injured hand, which had stopped throbbing recently, feeling as good as new, like the wound had never occurred. She carefully traced the bandages around her hand, losing herself to her own train of thoughts. She felt herself drift into a sense of peace, feeling the calm wind push her pulled back hair, the scent of the surrounding forest catching her off guard. That was until Yusuke came flying into her and knocking her right off of the porch and into the mud underneath.

"Yusuke," she sputtered angrily, standing back up, hair and face covered in the wet dirt.

"Um… Look, Hotaru it wasn't my fault that you weren't paying attention to where I was going,"

Hotaru, with slow deliberate movements, wiped the mud from her face, before flinging it into Yusuke's still moving mouth. She held a smirk on her face, as the spirit detective fell face first into the mud, spitting out the grainy substance.

"What was that for you hag?! Its not my fault that you fell into the mud."

"Is that so Yusuke? Is it really my fault that you just happened to have knocked into me therefore making me lose my balance and fall into the mud because the transfer of your momentum went to me when I was least expecting it?"

"Yes... wait… what?"

"I think differently." Hotaru gritted tackling the kneeling brunette into the mud again and shoving his face into the mud. Yusuke flailed uselessly, as the female put his face repeatedly into the wet dirt where he would nearly suffocate, but then was allowed to breath when Hotaru would randomly yank him back up.

Kuwabara stood wide-eyed and speechless as his cousin continued to beat-up the spirit detective and his one and only rival/friend who he had grown to respect.

Hiei was quite amused that there was someone besides Genkai who could put the rambunctious teenager into his place. Of course, he would have preferred it to be a little more violent but he only got what he could, secretly wishing the same fate would extend to Kuwabara, who had pushed Yusuke into the distracted female in the first place.

Kurama was debating whether or not he should extend some sort of help towards the clearly suffering green-clad student. He obviously was in no position to fight against the better positioned brunette female. Of course, he may deserve it for knocking her into the mud, but he did say that it was her own fault instead of apologizing to her like he should have in the first place.

"So, Yusuke… you remind me again whose fault it was I ended up face first in the mud?" Hotaru held the younger male's face centimeters from the mud, ready to shove it back in at a moment's notice.

"M-mine?" Yusuke stuttered trying to shift his head away from the mud, kicking his legs out in order to throw the female off his back.

Hotaru didn't move on his back, but moved the spirit detectives face closer to the mud, "Correct, it was your fault. Now what do you say when its your fault for something that went wrong?"

"Um… Sorry?"

"Very good Yusuke, now that you've learned your lesson, I'll let you go."

"About time, hag!"

Hotaru's eye twitched the slightest in the corner, before she shoved Yusuke's face back into the ample mud. Slowly she stood up and sauntered her way in the direction of the kitchen leaving the unmoving spirit detective facedown. On her way to the kitchen, she met Genkai, who asked her why she was covered in mud, to which she replied that Yusuke had pushed her and she wished to clean herself up before dinner which was soon to be ready. Genkai pointed her in the right direction before going off to give Yusuke a piece or two of her mind.

Reaching the bathroom, Hotaru could hear Genkai yelling at her 'clumsy' disciple, before ordering him to run through the forest, to which she could hear a very loud protesting moan from the younger teenager. She snickered slightly, closing the door behind her.

The mud had thoroughly been caked to her hair, clinging to her scalp like a blood thirsty leech. Hotaru growled in frustration as she stuck her head once again under the running faucet, scrubbing viciously at the dirt which refused to come off her head. Upon her second time shampooing, Hotaru could faintly hear someone knocking at the door through the water, removing her head from the water, she turned off the water and yelled at the closed door irritated, "What is it?"

"Miss Hotaru, I was sent to tell you that dinner was ready, but I see that you are not done in the bathroom, so I'll come back in five minutes or so."

"Ok, thanks Shuichi-san!" she replied turning the water back on and pulling the mud from her hair, painfully but quickly so she wouldn't have to keep the red head waiting long. She finished washing her hair in a minute, getting all of the mud from her hair, before she worked on the mud on her face. Three minutes later, she finished cleaning herself as well as the previously mud splattered bathtub. She opened the door just as the red head was going to knock.

"Sorry, that I made you have to come back, you wouldn't believe how hard it was getting the mud out of my hair."

Shuichi didn't say anything, just smiled and led her to where everyone had already started eating, Genkai with dignity, Yukina in small timid bites and of course Yusuke and Kuwabara swallowing down the food as if they hadn't eaten in days. Hiei was sitting in the corner, obviously wanting to be somewhere else than in that room with Yusuke and Kuwabara, and Shuichi went and sat in the opposite corner, observing the room.

Hotaru took her place at the table, snapping her chopsticks and muttering her thanks.

Yusuke was still covered in mud, from Hotaru's somewhat cruel and unusual punishment, not that she rally cared. She didn't really appreciate the mud like some people, like farmers might, especially in the face. Yusuke deserved whatever may come to him, for being rude. One day he would piss off the wrong person and get into plenty of trouble, if he hadn't already. Knowing him, he probably owed someone his soul. She snickered to herself, helping herself to the last three pieces of sushi.

"So Hotaru, how are you related to Kuwabara?"

"His mother and my mother were sisters. I'm his older cousin."

"You sure don't look anything alike, Hotaru," Yusuke budded in putting his arms behind his head,

"Well, some people have to be blessed with the ugly gene every once in a while, isn't that right Kazuma?"

"Whatever you say, Hotaru," Kuwabara said, obviously not listening.

"Idiot, she just called you ugly!" Yusuke hit the orange haired eating machine over the head, catching his attention.

"Shut up, Urameshi! I wouldn't be talking!" Kuwabara yelled, swinging at Yusuke, who ducked out of the way.

"And someone obviously had to inherit the stupid gene, as well as the ugly." Hiei muttered, standing up to leave the room.

"You wanna start something shrimp?" Kuwabara was on the offensive, his very unthreatening offensive.

Hiei glared at him, pushing his way out of the room, ignoring Kuwabara completely.

"Poor Kuwabara was always the ignored child, if I do recall. Thankfully I was an only child," Hotaru said mostly to herself as she set her chopsticks onto their rest.

"You are visiting for the weekend then?"

"No, staying with my cousins, until I can get a place of my own… or until college starts in a month or two."

"College? You can't be any older than Ku- Shuichi."

"I took my entrance exams this spring and was accepted, so I graduated high school a year early."

"Really? What are you going into?"

"Medicine. I'm not sure what I'm going to major in yet though. I figure that I'll decide by the time fall semester is done."

"Have you thought of what you might want to do?"

"Well, I was thinking of either being a General Practitioner or Pharmacy but I'm still undecided as I said."

"Well, I wish you good luck in whatever you decide to do."

"Thank you Genkai-san. That is very kind of you." Hotaru smiled as she stood up, collecting the dishes from the table, "I'll help with the dishes since Yukina did all of the cooking."

"No, that's okay Hotaru-san. I can get them, you don't need to help me." Yukina said timidly.

"I didn't say I had to, I said I wanted to, besides it wouldn't be fair if I didn't do some part of the work." She walked into the adjoining kitchen before Yukina could reply, taking with her, half of the plates. She started the water and went to work cleaning the dishes, Shuichi coming into the room and putting the rest of the dishes onto the countertop beside her. He stood in contemplation before he took the spot next to her and started to dry the dishes in the drying rack with a hand towel. Hotaru didn't look up as she finished the dishes, washing the counters thoroughly with the rag.

Out of the corner of her eyes she caught glimpses of the red haired guy, studying him and his movements. Early she had told Yusuke that he was slightly feminine and he was, but she still found him a bit mysterious and alluring, not that she was going to go fan girl and start worshipping him or anything. 'But hey, whoever said I can't look at a hottie everyone once in a while, I mean I'm only a girl.' She finished cleaning and drained the sink, waiting for Shuichi to finish drying and putting away the dishes. After that, he led the way to where everyone was sitting, more or less chilling out as the day came to an end, everyone being those present, which was everyone but Genkai and Hiei. Hotaru listened to the idle talking with her eyes closed, opening them to acknowledge anyone who talked to her, which was rare. Kuwabara seemed to either talk to Yukina, confessing his never ending eternal love to the petite blushing bluenette, or arguing with Yusuke about some pointless subject that seemed to only apply to them. It was amusing from time to time but mostly they seemed to want to hear the sound of their own voices. Yukina conversed mostly with Shuichi, asking him more questions about Volleyball and manga and whatever else Hotaru had mentioned to her, to which the red head would politely answer.

Hotaru decided that it was rather boring and stood silently and left the room, moving silently outdoors. Outside, there was a faint glow from the sky. The moon was out and illuminating the courtyard, or whatever you wanted to call it. Again, Kung-Fu action movie came to Hotaru's mind making her laugh at her own imagination before sighing, 'I must be crazy if I laugh at my own thoughts.' She shook her head before walking around the porch, seeing as it was the only available entertainment, running her hand over the wall and door. At the end of the porch, she turned around and started back to the other side, until she was back in front of the living room door. She sat on the porch and watched the clouds glide around the moon, but strangely never over it. 'How strange,' she thought to herself, tapping her fingers against the wood. Behind her the talking had been reduced to a dull whisper, not that the seventeen year old really cared, if they didn't want her to hear whatever they were talking about, she would respect them and not eavesdrop. She would just find out later anyways the way Kuwabara's jaw seemed to be always flapping about something.

"Hn. Onna you look tired."

Hotaru jumped at the voice so close to her ear, seeing Hiei standing next to her. She pressed her palm against her racing heart and nodded, "I'm a little tired after sleeping in such an uncomfortable position last night."

"Hn."

Hotaru rolled her eyes at his answer but didn't say anything to him, watching as Genkai walked out of the trees back into the courtyard. Hiei stared at Genkai for a brief moment before turning and walking into the room.

"You look like you're ready to go to sleep."

"Maybe I am. Today's been a little rough on me," Hotaru replied to the pink haired martial artist.

"I'll show you where you can sleep for tonight."

"Thanks, that would be very good." Hotaru followed after Genkai, who brought her across the courtyard and to one of many doors. "Here."

"Thank you Genkai-san. I'll see you in the morning."

"Of course… sleep well."

"Hopefully I will." Genkai left the teenager to her devices, which were going to sleep.

Hotaru woke up, it must have been around midnight, but she found that she was craving water. Tiredly, she climbed to her feet and walked to the door, sliding it open and walking across the courtyard again, to the kitchen to get her glass of water.

Cup in hand, water in cup, Hotaru started back to her room. When she closed the door to the kitchen, she could see that the light in the living room was still on, she could also see that everyone was in the room, talking quite energetically for being so late. Taking a swig from her glass, she stole another glance at the group, seeing now that a floating baby had came into sight.

Hotaru stared several seconds, before shaking her head and walking off to her room, convincing herself that she was hallucinating because of how tired she was. It made sense she was hallucinating, because really, a floating baby? She shook her head, laying down, setting her glass next to her head where she could easily reach it if she wanted some more.

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Review Replies- 

**_BlackRose(triple)6-_** thank you for the review as usual, as for the tatoo, I actually was thinking about getting that before I even started to write this story, but I thought that it would be better if someone not me had it, I wouldnt do it Justice lol

**_Wannabe Otaku- _**No certain reason really, I just happen to like Foxes ahaha thanks for the review

_**AV Drama Nerd-**_ thanks! I hope you continue to enjoy it

**_Roxasheart654- _**Here's that update, I hope that you liked it!

_Rizzy-_ if you like this OC, then you'll love my Naruto Fic OC! thanks for the review I hope you continue to enjoy my story

Well, now that I've got that chapter out... perhaps I should focus on Writing a new chapter for my poor Naruto fic, so Please review and have a good day!


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